Chapter 17 Chapter Seventeen

A black delivery truck, speeding from 130th Street to Park Avenue, slowed south toward the apartment complex. Jody in the driver's seat stared intently at the hearse parked by the side of the road. "There's a hearse in the street." That seemed redundant. "I saw it." Hank leaned over to take a look. "What do you think it's doing here?" "I'm not a prophet!..." Hank smacked his lips. "Do you think there are police in there?" "I don't like to guess anything. Let's go and have a look." After they both escaped from the shack on the Harlem River, they both changed their clothes.Jordi was wearing a blue suit with a blue overcoat, a black cap, brown sheepskin gloves and black Oxford shoes.He dresses like a food truck waiter, which, in fact, he did for four years.

Hank was also wearing a blue suit over a dun coat, a brown hat pulled down to his eyes, and his hands in the coat pockets. They disguised themselves like this to save their lives. Goldie was sitting in the front seat of the hearse, and he saw the headlights of the van just as it entered Park Avenue.The license plate that came into view when the truck turned a corner immediately made him suspicious again.He knew that at this time of night, this type of truck was not allowed to drive on the street. Goldie stooped so as not to be seen, his ears pricked up.He heard the van slow down across the street, and it occurred to him that it might be Hank and Jody, returning to fetch a box full of gold ore.He pulled out the revolver hidden under his robes, pressed it to his chest, and shifted in his seat to get a good view of the rearview mirror.

The truck drove straight to the opposite side of the hearse.Jody looked inside and said, "There's no one inside." "Looks like an empty car." "But there's something in the back of the car, do you think it's a coffin?" "Go and grind yourself." At this time, Jodi suddenly saw the end of the box in the hearse through the window. "There is indeed a coffin inside." Hank took out a .38 automatic pistol from the right pocket of his coat and loaded it.Jody pulled the car to the end of the street, made a quick U-turn, and drove back to the hearse.Goldie had been watching the headlights through the rearview mirror; the lights were suddenly gone, but the sound of the lorry approaching slowly could still be heard.

Hank was sitting next to the window of the hearse. "There's a box inside." Hank yelled. Jody looks over Hank's shoulder. "Do you think that's her box?" he asked. "Go and see." Jordy pulled the car in front of the hearse and stopped on the side of the road.He took off his gloves and stuffed them into the left pocket of his coat, and put his right hand into the right pocket, holding the cold knife handle inside. Jody got out of the car and walked to the side of the street, and Hank walked onto the sidewalk.While hesitating, the two scanned the silent street, turned around at the same time, and quietly walked back to the silent hearse.Pretending to be casual, the two glanced at the front seat, not noticing Goldie hiding below, his black robe shielding him from the darkness.

The two of them stood on both sides of the hearse, carefully inspecting the boxes on the bier through the window.Their eyes met over the roof of the box, and then, walking together to the back of the hearse, they found the door open and looked inside. "That's it, that's right," Jody said excitedly. "I know." Goldie looked up a little, saw them in the rearview mirror, and recognized them immediately.Hank kept his right hand in his pocket even when he was standing, and Goldie judged from this that he had a gun in his hand. Goldie wasn't sure if Jordy had a weapon, but he guessed Hank was the dominant one.He noticed them turn and look up, at the windows of the third-floor apartment.

"I don't see a light," said Jody. "That doesn't mean nothing happened." "I'm going to have a look." "Hey, wait a minute." "I don't want to be here waiting for someone to kick my ass." "If anyone was here, they would have seen us long ago." "What do you mean, somebody's there? . . . Do you think it was the nigger who brought this heavy box down?" "I guess so. She must have asked Jackson to help her." "Jackson, the fucking son of a bitch. How the hell did he find out that bitch was hiding here?"

"Then how did he know that we were in a hidden place by the river? This bastard who is obsessed with dark brown women can even find out where Hitler is buried." "That must be his boss' hearse!..." "I think so too." Hank nodded and smiled. Jody smiled softly: "I said... man, let's drive this damn hearse away." "See if he dropped the steel spoon." They made their way to the front seats, Jody on the street side and Hank on the other.Goldie's hand pressed the lock button on the street side door by feel.He figured Jordy was only carrying a knife so he could focus on Hank's gun.

Their shadows disappeared from the rearview mirror, and Goldie's nerves tensed.His right arm was stretched stiffly, his fingers closed on the pistol.He waited until Hank turned the front door handle before quietly raising the gun, thinking that the sound of the door opening should be enough to drown out the sound of the pistol being pulled. Hank hadn't expected the danger.As soon as he opened the door, he saw Goldie sitting upright like a mother of demons, and shouted: "Don't move! . . . " As soon as Hank saw the muzzle, his whole body froze, his heart stopped, his breathing became short of breath, and his blood clotted.Goldie's forty-five-millimeter muzzle was as big as a cannon.

Goldie was sure that the locked door behind him would protect him, but he didn't expect that the old Cadillac's door lock had already broken. Upon noticing movement, Jordi opened the door behind Goldie with his left hand, while his right hand grabbed Goldie from his seat and slammed him hard into the street before he could pull the trigger.The pistol was kicked away before Goldie's body hit the ground.When the fat body, wrapped in black, touched the pavement, he was attacked again on the neck and back. Jody didn't care whether he was kicking a man, a woman, or a child.He was driving a wave of lightning-like and crazy violence, and at this moment, there was only joy brought by blood in his eyes.

The revolver slid out, stumbling away on the street, and Jodie kicked Goldie in the ribs, and when the revolver finally lurched and disappeared into a ditch filled with black ooze by the side of the road, Goldie's waist also unfortunately died. Jody kicked Goldie in the stomach, and Hank, .38 automatic, took cover in front of the hearse. "Stop!..." Hank yelled, pointing the gun at Jody's heart, "You're going to kill her." Goldie was panting heavily on the dirty and wet ground like a hooked fish, writhing in pain, his mouth was covered with foam, and he couldn't speak anymore.

Hank's gun stopped him, and Jody steadied himself and said viciously, "Just one more kick and I'll kill her." "God, have mercy on an old woman," Goldie began to plead. A train was approaching the station, passing across the Harlem with a whistle that sounded like Goldie's wail. Hank took a step closer to Goldie, suddenly extended his left hand, and lifted his chin.Desperate Goldie fumbled in the dark for his golden cross, which had long been caught in the folds of his robes. "I'm a nun," he almost cried, "I serve God." "Don't play tricks with us, we know who you are," Hank said. "She was the nun who was the informant for the two black detectives, wasn't she? How do you think she got involved?" "How do I know? You ask her." Jody stared down at Goldie's dusty face, and there was no word "mercy" in his cloudy brown eyes. "Hurry up!..." He shouted angrily, "Your time is running out." As the train approached, the sound from the elevated rails became louder and louder. "Listen to me..." Goldie began to sob. A short, high-pitched whistle from the train signaled that it had successfully crossed the river and entered Harlem.The voice interrupted Goldie. "Listen, I can help you escape. You are strangers here, but I know this little place like the back of my hand." Hank's eyes narrowed, and he listened intently.Jody gripped the Swiss Army Knife and took it out of his coat pocket.There was a push button on the top of the handle of the saber. After he pressed it, a six-inch-long blade protruded forward. With a slight click sound, the blade shone faintly in the dim light. Out of the corner of his eye, Goldie caught sight of the blade, leaning on his knees, trying to crawl forward. "Listen to me, I can help you hide it." The instinctive fear of cold steel products forced his tears out, "Listen to me, I can cover you." Jody slapped Goldie in disgust, and Goldie's hat fell off, as did his gray wig, revealing his round head. "The nigger's a fucking man," Jody said, coming around behind Goldie. "Listen to him," Hank said. "I have a hiding place that no one knows about. Listen, I can take care of all of you, and I can cover you from the police. It's in the suburbs. You already know my secret, so trust me now." ’ cried Goldie excitedly, “Listen, I can hide all of you there, there’s enough of…” Again his voice was lost in the sound of the train whistle.Hank stared into his face, bending down to hear better. "Who's with you?" "No more, I swear..." Overhead came the roar of the train's diesel engines.Tremors from the viaduct shook the pillars.The streets are shaking, the houses are shaking, the whole night is shaking. Goldie knelt in a prayer position, his knees pressed against the wet, dirty, and shaking street, and his fat body under the robe also trembled, as if praying in the fear of extreme loss. After a while, Goldie felt Jordy approaching him from behind, and said angrily in his ear: "Damn, you lied to me!  …" Only then did Goldie realize that he had made a mistake.The box was so heavy, someone had to help him move it, and it was impossible for him alone. "It's not that there is no one, it's just..." Jordy moved his hands roughly, and with his right knee between Gordie's shoulder blades, he yanked Gordie's head back with one hand while the other gripped the With the knife, he slit from ear to ear, slit Goldie's constricted throat to the bone. As the rumbling train passed overhead, Goldie's screams were mixed with the roar of the locomotive, and the whole city was shaken by the sound.Shaked the Negro sleeping on a bed full of lice; Shaked the bones of ancestors, the aching muscles, the breathing lungs, and the restless fetus in the belly of an unmarried girl; Shaked the plaster ceiling; Shaked the walls of houses between the bricks The mud that shakes the rats between the walls, the cockroaches that crawl in the kitchen sink and leftovers; Fat bedbugs sucking blood; shaking fleas, they start jumping up and down; shaking dogs sleeping on dirty grass, shaking cats; shaking clogged toilets, excrement can be flushed away... Hank stepped aside quickly. Goldie's throat was slit, and the blood splattered in all directions, onto the black street, the front fender of the hearse, and the front wheels.For a moment, the erupting red blood light even illuminated the dark sidewalk.However, it immediately turned back to black, and the blood gradually turned dark purple.At the moment when the heart beat for the last time, the originally surging blood flow suddenly slowed down.The open flesh on the wide wound is like a lip bubbling with blood. The sickly sweet smell of blood wafts from the waste-smelling streets, mingling with the disgusting apartment stench of Harlem. Jodi took a few steps back, letting his dying body fall on his back onto the pavement, his body under the black robe, convulsing with death, as if he was making love to an invisible woman, reaching Crazy orgasm. The roar of the train stopped at the station on 125th Street, and the roar gradually died down, replaced by the sound of friction on metal. Jody bent down and wiped the edge of Goldie's blade with the hem of Goldie's black robe.With such a quick movement, only a few bloodstains were stained on the blade. He straightened up, pressed the button, and the blade retracted.He folded the knife, locked it with a click, and put it back in his coat pocket. "I bled his blood, the wild boar," Jodi said proudly. "He asked for it all." Hank and Jodi looked around the street tacitly, and raised their heads at the same time to look at the windows on the third floor of the apartment.Then they went into the dimly lit hallway and checked the windows around the room.Nothing suspicious.